daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
Our son’s birthday is tomorrow so we decorated a bit today. I can’t believe both of our boys will be adults already! Time goes by so fast… it seems like just yesterday when I was taking them to elementary school. And now they are almost both on their own. 😢
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Koa perform at an indoor concert. In fact, I think right before the pandemic hit the States in 2020, we saw him perform at UT. But it was like nothing had changed, except all the kids seem taller! 😆
Tonight’s performance was by the TMEA Region 32 Wind Ensemble. They sound amazing, but what is really incredible is that they learned this song (and three others!) in one day. What talented kids!
Koa is in the back-left part of the stage and plays xylophone in this piece. He has a small solo at the 6:25 mark. Enjoy!
Bay came home from college for Thanksgiving. I was very happy to see him. Even though he is only a few hours away by car, it sometimes seems like he is a world away. So it’s so nice when he comes home. I actually watch his icon on google maps (we have location sharing on) and as I see him get closer to home, I get more and more excited, just like a little kid. 😅
Today’s photo is of his slippers (on the right) next to mine. I like it that he brought them home to use while he’s here. Unfortunately, he can only stay a couple of days because he’s so busy with school – in fact, he’s spending most of his time in his room working on school projects. But even so, it’s heartwarming to know that he’s home.
Koa’s band competed today in San Antonio and we drove down from Austin to cheer them on. Luckily, we caught the band entering the arena while we were waiting for the doors to open up and got to give them words of encouragement, and also a few laughs. We have a large printed cardboard cutout of Koa’s face to hold up, and that got some big smiles from the Koa and the kids. 😄
I’m so proud of the marching band! They played great (Koa said it was their best run ever) and the crowd loved every second of the performance. Just two more competitions before marching band season is over. It’s coming to a close so quickly.
This evening Koa’s high school celebrate the band members who are graduating this year. We all got to walk onto the field amid cheers from the other students while the PA announcer read off the kids’ names and a bit out them (their accomplishments and future plans). It was a lot of fun!
The photo above is of the percussion seniors and their percussion director. Koa has been studying with the director for 7 years now! (6th grade though high school)
This evening was the final rehearsal at the high school band pad for the 2021 marching season. It’s also the final rehearsal for Koa’s marching band career since he’s a senior and will be graduating in June of next year. Next week are the last competitions for the marching band before they transition to concert season.
It’s kind of sad to think that after four years, marching band is almost over and that soon he’ll be going to college. That means both of our kids will be living away from us for most of the year. I’m excited for them both, but wondering how life will be.
But, time marches on! (pun intended 😋)
We went to the first marching band competition of the season this evening to watch Koa’s high school perform. It was awesome! All the bands were really great, with a ton of variety. It was so cool to see all the hard work pay off in amazing performances. Way to go everyone! (But especially my son, Koa 😄)
